The BOD 2011/12 pictured with RCKL Diraja President Andy Khoo, DGE Mansoor SaatDRC Robin Tay and DRR Sunil

Rotaract Club of Kuala Lumpur’s BOD 2011/2012
President: Gus Takow
Vice President: Nancy Sukumaran
Secretary and Bulletin Editor: Lawrence N. Nguty
Treasurer: Xiaxun Ong
Club Service Director: Jack Rowland
Professional Development Director: Sharmini Tambou
International Service & PR Director: Hidaya Halim Chua
Community Service Director & IPP: David Lee

I have heard about alternative healing therapies before, but this is the first time I got to know about Ayurveda – that originates from India based on the teachings of wise sages thousands of years ago. The guest speaker, Dr S.K. Vats has very deep knowledge on this form of healing, something that can be noticed in the long list of high positions he has held from his CV.

According to Ayurveda principles, our body consists of 5 elements – fire, earth, air, water and space. So in order to have perfect health, we need to balance the energy of all five elements. If those elements in your body are not in balance, then many sorts of illnesses, discomfort etc will come to the body. Dr Vats also explained the process of treatment whereby the patient is first diagnosed, so that the trained doctor will know on what are the areas and lacking elements that needs to be healed. There are few methods in using Ayurveda to heal a person and Dr Vats explained these as well as easily answered the curious audience’s questions during the very good Q&A session. He also taught us to practice frequent deep breathing in the mornings and maintain a healthy lifestyle.

It sure was an interesting and fun fellowship dinner as we wrapped up the RY08/09 term – thanks to the good company, new friends (Rtrs Jana & Gus from Germany and Cameroon respectively), the unique food and even a surprise belated birthday celebration! Hey, i even learnt a new skill – how to poach an egg to perfection (thanks Rtn Gerald!).

Also, I would like to take opportunity to thank each and every one of our members, guests, alumni, project partner organisations and Rotarians for all your positive support. It has been a great adventure here at RACKL and I’m truly glad we managed to pull off such meaningful projects that contributed back towards our community. And, I know I’ve experienced heaps of new things in these last twelve months as a President and Rotaractor. Here’s looking forward to another fun term starting July 1st, under the guidance of incoming Prez Anu

Signing off,
Kavita
President RY2008/09

Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr. & Tun Dr Mahathir, to name a few, are examples of iconic leaders who brought historical changes to their respective nations.  The great leadership qualities displayed by them continues to inspire many people, both young and old. To help dissect the characteristics that define a great leader, RACKL invited Mr U2Kumar, a renowned professional development speaker, to give a talk on leadership on June 13^th.

Audience were greeted by a fashionably dressed and outspoken Mr U2.  He jump-started the talk by engaging everyone in activities that serve to underscore the importance of team motivation. He proceeded to delineate the two main traits that good leaders often portray.  Firstly, good leaders are those who always function as coaches to motivate their teams to strive for the best and always ready to recognize contributions from other team mates.

Secondly, effective leaders never fail to play the role of facilitators.   As facilitators, leaders steer their teams to change for the better when encountering difficulties to achieve the desired results. The inability of teams to realize their respective objectives should not be classified as failures, which tend to discourage the team players. Rather, it should be viewed as wrong results that serve as drivers for teams to be more determined and strive harder to change their execution strategies.

Staying true to his quirky personality, Mr U2 concluded the leadership session in the most creative manner. Before ‘graduating’ from this short but effective course, all participants were required to sing one of Bryan Adam’s signature song, ‘Everything I do, I do it for you’.  Cheesy as it may seem, I’m sure the song struck a chord in many participants, including me. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be as motivated to share with you readers out there on the invaluable information that was acquired during the very entertaining talk.

We just got back from the District 3300 Awards Night where not only was the new District Rotaract Representative Amanda Lam installed, but also saw deserving Rotaract Clubs compete their best projects of this term (RY08/09) in 7 categories.

RAC Kuala Lumpur emerged winners in two – Best Community Service Project (for Project Gift A Kid) and Best Bulletin (that includes this blog!)… Congratulations and a job well done to all the club members, alumni and guests who were involved and provided support in the undertaking of all our projects and activities this term!

Also, congrats to the other clubs in the district for their amazing projects:
- Best Membership Development: RAC Klang
- Best International Service: RAC ATC for Model United Nations
- Best Professional Development: RAC Taylors Business School
- Best Rotaract Awareness: RAC Port Klang for Child Mortality Campaign
- Best Fellowship: RAC Pudu

RACKL played host to 3 rotaractors from Yogyakarta, Indonesia – Rtr Shintamie Suryaputri from RAC Mataram Jogjakarta, DRRE Budi Wibowo and PE Andi Fadhry from RAC Jogjakarta Malioboro. A few of us had already met them when they hosted us back in their country in March 2008 when we had a joint environmental project entitled “Green Today, Greener Tomorrow”.

Day 1
President Kavita, Rtr David, Rtr Eleena and I decided to treat Rtr Shinta for Authenic South Indian food at Sri Pandi in Brickfields while waiting for the other 2 rotaractors to arrive at KL Sentral after their Air Asia flight from Yogyakarta. It was quite funny as they boarded the 9.30pm bus from LCCT but only arrived at 11.30pm (also caused us quite a panic because they were unreachable). A Kelisa may be a small car but it could fit 4 people including 3 people’s backpacks… amazing! Hunting the streets in Bukit Bintang for a place to stay in the middle of the night is not an easy task but eventually we found a temporary place called Comfort hotel and proceeded to makan makan in Jalan Alor…..

Day 2
The view from KLCC Sky Bridge is so amazing that it will take your breath away. You can see places that you never have ever thought or bothered to see. We cannot forget the cam-whoring in KLCC Park. Lunch was amazing as we dined in Shangri-la Hotel courtesy of our Sponsoring Club, The Rotary Club of Kuala Lumpur DiRaja as we attended their club meeting.

Batu Caves was the next stop we decided to check out. The huge statue of Lord Murugan which measures 42.7m tall that guards the entrance to the caves can be seen from the Ulu Klang / Jalan Genting Klang Road. Very Important note, there are only 275 stairs to climb to reach the main temple and not 1000 (like Anu initially informed everyone). The beauty of the cave has no words to describe. Those who are afraid to visit the temple during Thaipusam, should visit it non festival period. More tourists can be seen compared to Malaysians during non festival times. Also beware of the monkeys there.

Of course you cannot visit Petaling Street aka Chintatown unless at night. That is exactly what we did. We went to town from Jelatek LRT Station to experience the train system and to avoid the KL’s famous rush hour jam. Central Market was the first stop as they wanted to buy some souvenirs. As we went to Chinatown, alumni Cheong decided to join us. Going to Chinatown after years and to see so many stalls arranged in a proper order is still something that shocks me. Felt like a country bumpkin after that.

We cannot forget Malaysia’s longest Pasar Malam in Taman Connought, which sells something called Mango Lolo (shaved ice topped with sago, biji selasih and yummy mango slices). Never have seen it anywhere else. Kavita seems to have fallen in love with it that she hunts for Mango Lolo wherever she goes now. Budi was also introduced to the unique concept of Lok-lok. We then travelled to Laundry in Bandar Utama and met IPP Neeraj and Rtn Yanzeer from RC Bukit Bintang for some drinks.

Day 3
The plan was to go to Genting Highlands but due to unseen circumstances (Ed note: Like Anu oversleeping!), the plan was cancelled. We found ourselves in Megamall instead and since our guest wanted to watch a Malaysian movie, we watched a new English movie called SELL OUT! No review can prepare you for the storyline since no one seems to be able to understand the storyline or morale of the story.

Our next stop was Little India, walking along the streets and showing them part of our heritage. We ate Paper Thosai, tried Putu Mayam, Roti Canai and Teh Tarik. We then battled the Jalan Ampang rush hour traffic, which, they said, was just like being in crowded Jakarta.

We finally saw rain that evening, luckily we were safely boarded in my house for a quick rest before heading out to Heritage Row on a Thursday night. Rtr David and guest Tracy decided to join us at Mojo’s, we thought bar hopping would be good to try as well and hopped into the next door club called Bar Club.

Once we were tired, we headed back to Tropical guesthouse, a new lodging house the boys decided to stay in. Of course, staying in guesthouse would be incomplete if we didn’t mix with the other guests. Being a single story lot, it was easier to sit outside and mingle around.

Day 4 – Day 6
RAC Kota Melaka in D3310 took over hosting duties for the weekend as the Yogya Rotaractors headed to historical Malacca while we went to Camerons.

Day 7
We met up in KLCC once again for dinner, this time we were joined Rotaractors from Universiti Teknologi Petronas and PP Sanjeev Kumar from RAC Subang. Being a Monday night and very close to Avenue K, we decided to stop at Spring Bar to quench our thirst. Rtr. Naren decided to join us with his cousin, Krishna from Australia. Getting back to the carpark in KLCC was scary. We thought that my car was locked in since all doors were shut as it was past midnight when we decided to leave. Thank God for small blessing as there was an outer entrance to get into the carpark. The next morning, it was time to say good bye to our guests as they were leaving the next day to continue their journey to Thailand.

I was invited to join the KL Rotaract members to Cameron Highlands for a weekend. Although I had agreed to join on the trip, I was a little apprehensive joining this group whom I’ve just met for a long road trip. On the said day, we met up at KL Sentral at about 7.30am, 7 of us got into two cars and started on our long journey. Along the way we stopped for a quick coffee break and continued our journey. We reached our destination at around 12.30pm.we headed to the Boh tea plantation for a short tour and a good cuppa except for Kuhan and myself, as we are coffee lovers. We then drove to our rented apartment Prima Villa for the night and we had a pleasant surprise as it turned out to be clean, cosy and comfortable. After a late lunch, the group then went gallivanting around Brinchang and Tanah Rata.  We drove to a strawberry self plucking farm, where most of us went crazy over the juicy, red strawberries. We stopped by the Tudor-styled Old Smokehouse Inn for a few memorable snapshots. An hour was spent roaming the Brinchang night market and some of us were feeling tired especially our reliable drivers. Since we were feeling stuffed with the late lunch and munching of snacks, we decided to skip dinner and stay indoors. We played UNO and watched some television before calling it a night.

Day two started off with Roti Canai and doughnuts courtesy off Kavita and Chelvi. After dillydallying an hour or so, we decided to check out off the apartment. We then headed towards the Brinchang Hindu temple followed by the Chinese temple for a short visit. Some of us did some last minute veggie shopping while the rest of just lazed around. We decided to have lunch in Simpang Pulai on our way down form the hills. We decided against the Lata Kinjang waterfalls due to bad weather.

After bidding farewell and exchanging Facebook addresses, we all headed home. My feelings off apprehension was uncalled for in the beginning, as it turned out to be an enjoyable trip with a group of new found friends.

Travel from the pyramids of Egypt through the Enid Blyton-like lakes of United Kingdom to the Eiffel Tower and Rome – all without leaving our meeting venue in KL! Now that was going to be a challenge but we were up for letting guest speakers Rotaractor Ziad El-Adawy and GSE team member Tang Weng Cheong take control and steer our minds through these exotic locations.

Ziad, who is currently a student at Universiti Teknologi Petronas, certainly put in a lot of effort on his presentation – despite being in the middle of finals. He shared his experiences of living in Egypt and took us through time from the historical days of Pharaohs to the modern cities (and for some of us who still had images of Egypt being a desert, we were amazed at how developed and green Egypt really is!). The interests of the avid travelers in our club was certainly peaked and his Q&A session was filled with questions on the cost of traveling to Egypt and must-see itineraries.  

Next up was alumni Cheong who had just returned from his Group Study Exchange trip to the Lake District, UK. Cheong shared on the wonderful Rotary hosts he had and vocational visits he got to be a part of – including trying his hand at being a firefighter! For more of their adventures, you can check out their blog. Cheong also shared pictures from his extended solo trip to Paris and Rome as well as a unique tip – To get great pictures of yourself in front of landmarks when traveling alone – look out for people carrying SLR cameras and get them to assist. Cheong even got a National Geographic photographer to shoot him in front of Eiffel tower!

After that, we planned to have an international cuisine in line with the IS avenue talks. Since we had an Egyptian in our midsts, we decided to host him to dinner at Sahara Tent which is famous for Middle Eastern cuisine and even won a Special Tourism Award. This restaurant also highly recommended by Anu as well and Ziad helped suggest what authentic food we should try. We had Hummus spread and Falafel (spiced chickpea balls) as our appetizer, Cheong was having Moussaka and Kavita was having lamb couscous for their main course. The food is excellent, by the end of the day everyone is satisfied on what they have. We also exchanged portions of our food with each other, sharing is caring as they say.

We may live and work in the city of KL but not many of us really venture into areas which most foreign visitors and tourists to our city do! With this in mind, President Kavita came up with a fun challenge for us RACKL members and guests – rediscover our city’s roots ala The Amazing Race. Not only did we have to run around the old part of Kuala Lumpur to solve the mysterious clues she set and take pictures as proof, but we had to do it all taking…. Public transport!

Also joining us were two visiting Rotaractors from Bangladesh – Enamul and Raj who were game to tag along and coincidentally, the hunt was a good introduction to KL for them… hehe. Three groups of four took part and while it was quite simple (all you needed was a camera and some knowledge about the history and geography), it was challenging to finish it in time.

A couple of surprises were in store though – one, we were to look for answers in a museum near Dataran Merdeka but unfortunately, it was closed for renovation! Then, the weather took a turn for the worse and it started raining heavily so we had to abandon the hunt halfway.

All the groups gathered at the final checkpoint of Restaurant Jamek near the Masjid Jamek LRT station and the scores were tallied up. It was a close race between all three groups and we wrapped up with the obligatory prize giving and fellowship dinner.